Program

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CoMun

Municipal Cooperation for Local Participatory Governance in the Maghreb Region

Lead Organization

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH).

Partners

Tunisian Ministry of the Interior; General Directorate for Local Government (DGCPL, Tunisia); General Directorate for Local Government (DGCL, Morocco); Center for Training and Support to Decentralization (CFAD, Tunisia); National Institute for Urban and Territorial Planning (INAU, Morocco); Germany’s Association of Cities (DST); Morocco’s association of mayors (AMPCC); Tunisia’s FNVT (National Federation of Tunisian Cities); and around 40 partner cities.

Members of the orientation committee.

Challenges

High urbanization rate in the Maghreb countries increase expectations towards urban municipalities to deliver better urban services and ensure good living conditions.

Municipalities need to develop local democracy and strengthen citizen participation in the context of the ongoing social and economic transformation processes.

Program Objective

To strengthen cities as key players in national, regional, and local development and reinforce their capacities, structures, and urban services through exchanges among cities in the Maghreb region. To increase the diffusion of sustainable solutions in the urban sector and encourage the use of instruments and good practices existing in other contexts (peer-to-peer). To support the development of networks of cities on several themes by facilitating discussion and exchange of solutions.

Selected Results

Informed policy/involved stakeholders: Development of learning networks on different urban topics or issues and services such as solid waste management, public transport, energy efficiency, and rehabilitation of medinas:

Technical assistance to Morocco’s recently created association of mayors (AMPCC) and support in the ongoing public debate on the new decentralization law.

Funding of four thematic city networks involving a total of 30 municipalities in Morocco.

Implementation of seven city development projects in cooperation between civil society and the municipalities.

In Tunisia, the network on waste management, involving 20 cities, signed an agreement with the National Federation of Tunisian Cities (FNVT) as the network's national partner.

Increased capacity: Reinforcement of local democratic structures in Tunisia, with CoMun providing several kinds of support to the partner cities:

In Tunisia, one-stop shops providing municipal administrative services were established in 8 cities by end of 2014, 7 more are being planned.

The délégations spéciales of the cities of Touzeur, Gabes, La Marsa, and Menzel Bourguiba adopted their municipal budget and approved the projects that had been prioritized in a participatory approach.

A series of workshops on local democracy and citizenship, provided in partnership with the Center for Training and Support to Decentralization (CFAD) between May and October 2014, mobilized more than 100 representatives from municipalities. They were supported by a training of trainers approach in order to develop moderator capacities in different regions of Tunisia.

A youth project initiative, Contest of Ideas for Youth, was organized in three cities in Tunisia to support youth participation.

Institutional development at the FNVT in order to promote and protect the interests of cities.

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